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Free Fall *anyone*
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2008 19:08:06 GMT -5
Tobias scratched lazily at his chest as he walked around the wet perimeter of the pool. His thin chest rose and fell with each breath he took. For him, swimming was therapy, and he needed it today. A new job, a new place…it was so surreal to him. He pulled an elastic tie away from his wrist and tied back his hair, then headed to the high-dive. He hadn’t been on one of those things in years, but today he needed the rush of free falling. He started the climb, his heart pounding at the idea of his lanky body splitting against the water because of one wrong move. Once he reached the top he instinctively looked down, surveying the jump. He stretched his arms, the hair on his chest prickled against his bicep. He paced on the board, back and forth back and forth, and his mind began to wander. He wasn’t going to isolate himself like last time, even if his mutation was a heavy concern of his. Maybe if he focused on something else…like filling out, building muscle or something, anything that could expel his energy so it wouldn’t lash out during the full moon. He walked to the ledge, toes hanging free in the air, and stepped back once more.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2008 20:00:26 GMT -5
New school. New town. New kids. Same family.
With her younger cousin here, it had only seemed right to the family that Amy accompany Clara to the new school. She had needed a job anyway and helping these kids with their own powers would not only help Amy with her own, it'd help many other people. And she needed the money for her apartment and stuff. She had arrived only a few days before and decided to take a look around the large, beautiful school. It intrigued her creativity...
Something caught her eye as she wandered. A pool? Score! She walked in and looked around; nobody seemed to be there. Her bathing suit was in her room, so she just rolled up her pants, took off her hoodie, pulled down her shirt a bit and placed her feet gently into the cool, chlorine water. Amy gave a sigh of comfort, and she looked around once more. Something seemed odd, as if there were somebody in there. "Hello?"she asked the room, listening to her voice echo off the walls.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2008 23:35:54 GMT -5
Tobias hadn’t seen or heard Amy come in. He had been too preoccupied with mentally perfecting his dive… so that he wouldn’t crack his head open on the tile far below him. Finally, after an agonizingly long pause, he jumped; arching his back and winging his long arms in front of him. He heard the ‘hello’ half way into his fall and it pulled him out of the moment. He tilted his head up in time to see the shadow of a woman and then SPLAT!
The side of his face broke the surface tension and he torpedoed toward the bottom of the pool, stuck in a near blackout and a half daze. Slowly, he became aware of his surroundings; the burning chlorine in his nose, the stinging on his right cheek, and the aching sensation of death in his lungs.
Tobias kicked his way slowly to the top, pursing his lips as if it would provide him with more air than he had left in his lungs. Sputtering and coughing as he broke through the water once more, and pulling his way to the nearest step latter, he had one thought on his mind: solid ground.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2008 21:11:35 GMT -5
The falling man startled her at first, until she realized he had jumped off the diving board. She easily envied his form, and knew that if she ever tried that, she would probably flop. One of her lower points was actually swimming; floating, she could do. Amorina was a pro at floating. To actually swim? That was another story.
As soon as she spoke, the man seemed to loose his concentration and hit the water. Hard. See, the flop. Amorina winced, muttering a small, "Oooooo," in sympathy. She could almost feel the hard sting of the water. She watched him, a small smile on her face, accompanied by a smaller giggle. When people were hurt, especially by a diving mishap, it brought a smile to most people's face. It was a human trait; pain equals laughter.
Worry only filled her when it took him a while to resurface. Had he been seriously hurt?Pulling her feet back out of the water, she raced towards the ladder and plunged her hand into the water. Amorina saw him begin kicking and gave a large sigh of relief; he still hadn't reached the ladder yet. She hoped it wouldn't be too late. She wasn't a good swimmer, and she wouldn't be able to dive in and save him. It'd probably just end up killing them both. He was still kicking, so he seemed to be doing okay. She stretched as far out as she could, one hand in the water, the other on the railing of the ladder, reaching out to him the best she could.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 13, 2008 22:58:56 GMT -5
He large hand landed in her palm and he used the other to pull himself out of the water, not knowing if she could handle all of his weight, as little of it as there was. Somewhere in the kicking, he had lost his hair-tie and his thick black lock clung to his scalp, hiding his eyes and half his nose from view. Tobias planted his butt on the ground and drew his knees to his chest. This was a maneuver he often did around people when he got self-conscious about his chest hair. There was nothing wrong with it, it wasn’t gross or sweaty looking, and in fact the chest hair gave him a more rugged look as if he were a very underfed Aragorn. It was more of the ‘underfed’ part that made him more aware of his body.
Tobias turned his head to the side and coughed out the snot and muck that always filled up every head cavity after someone had inhaled water. “Thanks,” he said thickly. He shook his head and let out a deep sigh, blinking his left eye a few times until his sight became less blurry.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2008 15:51:48 GMT -5
The weight almost pulled Amy in, but she set her feet and stiffened her body, putting all of her weight on helping him up and out. For such a slight man, there was a lot of him to pull out of the gripping water. This man reminded Amy of a large, shaggy, wet, emaciated dog; she watched him, hoping she wouldn't have to perform CPR on a man she hadn't even met yet. Looking too old to be a student, but too young to be much older than her, Amy decided her was probably one of her co-workers.
"Are you okay?"she asked when he thanked her, and she pulled her own feet out of the pool. "I'm sorry if I distracted you." Amy felt the awkward moment building up already between them. A half-naked man who she had just saved from a death she probably caused. So much for good first-impressions. Something crossed her mind; what if he could control water, and messed up only because she had walked in? Had it been her fault, or her power's?
His awkwardly blinking left eye made her look at him, and she had to stifle a giggle and smile. Certain things brought out the immaturity in her, and this was one of those things. Amy had to pull her own legs up and place her head in her knees, her face away from him so she could let a small silent laugh out. Guilt washed through her and let the smile and laugh die, so she could turn back towards him once again and wait to see if he would be okay.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2008 16:09:27 GMT -5
Tobias tried to keep a straight face, saying seriously, “You think me being in danger is funny do you?” He stared at her, unblinking and eyebrows furrowed but he couldn’t keep from smiling and he laughed. “Appreciate the help, love,” he said. He stood to his full height and stretched his back until it popped, then walked over to his gym bag and dug out a package of cigarettes and a lighter.
“Don’t worry about it,” he added at her apology. “I’m no good at diving. I like it…but I’m no good at it.” He walked back to her; cigarette clinched between wet lips, and stuck out his large hand. “Name’s Tobias.” He let his eyes linger from her blonde hair to the intensity of her eyes and the curve of her chin and neck. Being close to the full moon, he couldn’t be bothered with looking discretely. A thought of his sharp canines clamping around her neck flashed in his mind and Tobias had to shake his head free from the idea. “Sorry,” he said more to himself than her.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2008 16:23:48 GMT -5
His serious tone made her smile drop completely, and she began to stammer. "Oh-no, I-I-I-don't think it's funny at all," when he began to laugh. If she had known him better, she'd have punched him in the arm. "Oh, you're welcome. I wasn't exactly just gonna sit there and watch somebody drown in front of me,"she laughed. Amy stood up when he did, wiping off her butt to make sure there was nothing on it. Slowly, she rolled her shoulders back, relaxing them and stretching her arms over her head.
"Yeah, I'm not the best swimmer or I'd have dove in. I'm an amazing floater. Not that talented as a swimmer though." She shrugged, wrinkling her nose. "Oh well, what can ya do?" Amy wrinkled her nose more at the cigarette and shook her head. "Those things'll kill ya, ya know,"she teased, and took his hand. "I'm Amorina Riddell. Most people call me Amy. I'm guessing you're a teacher?" She noticed the quick one-over she received and tried not to let any blush show through. Flattery would get you everywhere with Amy.
The "Sorry" made her head tilt a bit. "What're you sorry for already?"she asked, her curiosity bopping her in the head. Maybe it was her power again. She hadn't meant to use it, and she wasn't sure if she had. It was so hard to keep track of some days...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2008 16:36:46 GMT -5
Tobias cleared his throat. “Uhh, nothing. Sometimes I just…you know…talk to meself, and usually not in English,” he added (again to himself) with a raised eyebrow. He took a deep inhale on his cigarette and blue the smoke away from both of them. The irony of smoking in a gym made him smirk. “You know these woodbines will break my pocketbook first before they kill me.” Tobias was nearly up to four packs a day. There were twenty cigarettes in a box and if he didn’t smoke one for every minute…that was three fourths of his day spent on smoking. He had learned to do a lot of things with only one hand. Occasionally, if he needed both hands to get a job done, Tobias would roll the stick between his lips and let smoke pour out of the corners of his mouth, or out of his nose.
“I usually like being called Tobias, but every now and again I’ll let someone call me Tobi.” He added. The nickname still was sore to him, being called ‘Tubby Tobi’ growing up was not his favourite memory. It was a forgiving nickname, for he had been much more than just ‘tubby’ but for whatever reason he couldn’t let bygones be bygones and the name had stuck with him. “So what is it that you teach Miss Amy?”
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2008 17:50:15 GMT -5
She took her hand back and shook her head at the smoke. "Well they'll make you stink. There are fates worse than death, you know." She could never understand why people still wanted to smoke; all the chemicals they contain, the things they do to you, it just never seemed understandable to her.
"And they make you look old." She sat back down, sticking her feet back into the pool. "Nice to meet you, Tobias,"she said, smiling up at him. Amy didn't know him well enough to feel like she could call him Tobi, so, for now, she would stick to calling him Tobias. She had always let people call her whatever they wanted. Some would call her Amy, some would call her Rina, some would just call her Amorina. She had never really been picky with her names; whatever they wanted to call her, she let them.
His question made her think and she made a face. "I'm not too sure, at the moment,"she replied with a laugh. "I wanted one class but somebody else had it. I think I'm doing Art. I've always loved it, but my favorite is photography. This school has some very promising scenery, don't you think?" She smiled even at the Gym, basking in the warmth of it all. Maybe the warmth was just the smoke...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2008 18:01:47 GMT -5
At the comment about looking old, Tobias casually ran a hand through his hair, which was drying in knots, and over the spot that had a few strands of grey in it. He hadn’t minded the idea of getting older. “Yeah…very green,” he said lighting another cigarette. He pulled on a t-shirt that fit him width wise, but was a little too short in length. Every time he stretched, he exposed the trail of hair that disappeared into his waistband. The curses of being excruciatingly tall: you could never look totally decent. “I thought gals liked men who looked a little more…mature.” He took a spot beside her, sliding his long legs deep into the water. He decided on not diving for the rest of the day, just in case she wanted to say something else. "What was the class you wanted then?"
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2008 18:18:04 GMT -5
Watching him, Amy couldn't help but let her eyes wander over him. He was rather attractive, in the sort of scruffy way. That was fine with her; Amy couldn't afford to be picky. She hadn't exactly been a very big "Serial Dater"; in her whole life, Amy had only had two or three actual boyfriends. When he stretched, her eyes wandered that little trail and she quickly averted her eyes to the water, giggling to herself. "Well, some do,"she agreed. "But they don't like them when they stink." Amy smiled at him, an almost teasing smile. It was nice to actually be talking to somebody, not trying to lecture them.
"Well, I wanted to teach Control. I helped my cousin when she was having trouble controlling her power. See, I'm kind of like an OFF switch for peoples' powers. When I'm around, I can make people stop having powers, as long as I stay relatively close to them,"she explained, splashing his feet with water. "What do you teach?"
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2008 18:31:06 GMT -5
Tobias tilted his head and withdrew his cigarette, rolling it between forefinger and thumb. “Remind me to stay around you more often. Do you turn them on and off at will? Or is it by accident?” He was thinking of earlier when his animal side almost came out. He moved his feet in the water, accidentally grazing her leg with his and offering an apology each time. “I, uh, I’m the guidance councilor. So I don’t teach anything per say…maybe self-awareness…” he leaned back onto his forearms, and let the water bounce his legs to the surface. If he could, he would live in water. It was his Irish blood that made him so fond of the weightlessness swimming provided. He’d been swimming as long as he could remember. His step-father used to joke that Tobias was a silkie, a much nicer creature to be than the half-wolf he was.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2008 18:59:10 GMT -5
Amy shrugged again, thinking. "Sometimes it's on accident, sometimes it's willingly. Sometimes it's hard to keep track of, but I've pretty much got it under control. Why do you need to stick around me? Creepy-stalker-man." She smiled when their legs brushed against each other, but quickly let the smile disappear. She couldn't fall for somebody so quickly, especially a coworker. That'd be the definition of awkward.
Amy looked at him and shook her head. "You're probably going to see a lot of my cousin. She has a hard time with her power and has a lot to vent sometimes. I bid you good luck on that one, Tobias," she said, saluting him. Amy looked at the water and sighed. "I wish I was a better swimmer. I love it.."
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2008 19:24:00 GMT -5
“My mutation’s finicky,” Tobias said after a long hesitation. Best to be honest with this one. “I can control it mostly…but then at the end of each month, it gets out of hand. I sometimes go to self-destructive means to keep it under control, like drinking too much or something,” Why was he being so honest with her? He stood up and began to pace. He wasn’t so good at keeping still for long periods of time. He smiled when she saluted him. “Well, I’m a good listener…but I don’t force anyone to therapy. They have to want to get better.” He didn’t respond to her swimming comment, only stared at the water and noticed how perfect her legs looked.
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